Sammy Davis joined the Army because he loved his daddy. He wanted to make him and his grandads proud. He was just a kid out of high school. If he hadn’t joined the Army, he wanted to be a member of Hell’s Angels.

Regarding war protestors at SFO I asked, “Did you look them in the eye?” Davis’ response: “I looked every one of them in the eye.”

On November 18, 1967, his team was ambushed by the Vietcong and the Americans did what they were trained to do. Davis was knocked unconscious, then woken up by a beehive round strike to his body. Although he didn’t think he’d live to see the light of day, he saw his brothers across the river and he rescued them. One of those men was Jim Dyster, who had been shot thru the head and was for sure dead. Turns out, he wasn’t.

During our conversation we get to hear from his wife, Dixie too. She’s by his side at all his appearances. She wrote a book about their life, which is linked below.

This is another great, selfless American that kept a smile on my face the entire interview. And you may be interested to know he’s the real life Forrest Gump. Watch his Medal of Honor ceremony with Pres Johnson and you’ll see why.

Below are some resources to learn more about Sergeant FirstClass Sammy L. Davis:

Since our son Will was born in May, he’s had open heart surgery and an additional three procedures that required him to be taken from us and operated on.

This isn’t intended to be a comprehensive recap of his health issues, but really some thoughts on what my wife and I have learned from him and others over the course of his four surgeries in his short life. Considering all these procedures, we’ve only spent 12 nights in the hospital (not counting 11 days in NICU following his birth).

–It could always be worse. During our time in the CVICU and CCU following his heart surgeries, we saw many kids with much more severe health issues. They are waiting on heart transplants, bone marrow transplants, and fighting cancer. It’s sad and inspiring to see them around the hospital and forming friendships with the other kids in similar situations.

–He squeezes out a smile whenever he can. The little fella has been poked and monitored so much that it seems he’s barely fazed now. And to see how resilient he’s been has been almost puzzling. Although he’s clearly been in some pain, he’s such a happy kid and won all the nurse’s hearts with his smiles and calm demeanor.

-His hair defies the laws of gravity. The longer it gets, the more it stands straight up. After surgery #1, Roz asked the surgeon if his hair was still standing up. He said no b/c he had a hat on. When we got to see him a short time later, his hair was back to normal. The surgeon told the nurses to fix his hair for his mom. That’s a good doc with actual bedside manner.

–Be flexible, don’t be disappointed when plans change. Prior to his first heart surgery in October, the surgeon told us to plan on 3 weeks to a month in the hospital. He ended up only staying 4 nights. So, it seemed almost easy. However, things didn’t stay smooth and fluid was found around his heart. It kept increasing, so it had to be drained, and then that didn’t solve the problem so they performed a pericardial window to hopefully permanently fix the issue.

Just when we thought all was well, more issues arose. This has happened several times, and then his third hospital stay was prolonged by RSV. Every time we thought we were going to get him home, we were wrong. So, we learned to be hopeful, but don’t get too set with our plans. We’ve had to cancel or change many plans and won’t be surprised if that continues. It’s okay though.

-Dreams sometimes come in unexpected packages. We, just like any couple, were excited for the birth of our 3rd son. My wife probably more so b/c she was so sick. We had no clue there were any health issues with Will before his birth, despite all the ultrasounds and genetic testing. Shortly after his birth–like a bomb, we found out he had Down Syndrome and an AV Canal Defect in his heart, requiring surgery in the next few months.

How did we take the news? Well, we didn’t smile and say “this is God’s plan”. It was tough. We struggled with the shock and uncertainty. So many unknowns. What will his future be like? What will our future be like? Will we ever get a good night’s rest?

However, he’s been such a blessing to our family. Not just our little family, but our extended families as well. He’s a happy, calm little boy that brings out pure love in those close to him. His body doesn’t have to be “typical” or “normal” for us to be in love with him. We know he’ll continue to teach us the rest of our lives. And little Will has two older brothers that will push and motivate him, so he’ll excel at whatever he wants.

-He’s endured pain bravely and been a fighter. His blood has been taken so many times that they just call in SWAT these days b/c his veins are so hard to find. Then to watch them suction out mucus from his ventilator is probably one of the toughest acts I’ve been present for. It looks so uncomfortable b/c I put myself in that situation and it would be awful–no one likes that choking feeling. Then his body has fought so hard to recover from the pokes, cuts, pain meds and multiple sicknesses. On top of this, he has tracheomalacia, which complicated the ventilator removal both times. And he has no problems ripping the hoses and monitors off him–he’s a strong little man. When new problems arise, I think he now says “What else you got?”

We were overwhelmed by the news from day 1, but we’ve felt such a spirit and strength from him since his birth. He’s special.

-Be an advocate for your children and trust your gut. If Rozlynn hadn’t acted on her motherly instincts, he may not be in the shape he’s in. Will wasn’t scheduled to see his cardiologist for two more days, but she got him in early, they found the fluid and said he needed to be admitted immediately to remove it the following morning.

At the same time, he hadn’t acted himself since his first surgery in October. She knew he was in pain every time he coughed. The docs said that shouldn’t be the case, but we had to stay on them to check. When they did the pericardial window, they had to repair his sternum and use stronger, stainless steel wire to hold it together. The surgeon said it won’t move this time. That’s why he was in pain–his chest wasn’t growing together properly.

-Pediatric nurses are a Godsend. Not much more to say here other than we received top-notch care from nurses who seemed to love their jobs. Children’s of Alabama is doing something right when it comes to hiring.

We’ll probably experience more adventures with this little guy, but I hope we learn to enjoy the journey and keep appreciating his relentless spirit.

“Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” (spoken by the sheepdogs; the warriors).

What do you ask the expert in the study of the psychology of killing?

Among the many things we discuss today are the differences between sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. Which one are you? Well he’s going to describe each one and how they respond to threatening situations. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds.

We also talk violence on TV, sleep deprivation, teen suicide, everyday carry (EDC) and veterans health. I love his reasoning for turning off the cell phone/tablet at night–do not take to bed. This was very interesting.

Today is 8 years since Mark was killed in Afghanistan. Although we were notified in person by his teammates and leadership, there were still many unanswered questions–details no one who wasn’t there could personally share.

Major Wes Wilson was the ODA Detachment Commander when Mark was killed. Their team had split up and Wes was about 200 meters away with the mounted element, which included George, who’s been on the podcast two times before.

Hear Wes give us more details of that intense short period on Sept 29, 2010 in Uruzgan Province, where two Americans and others were killed.

“If we don’t try to rescue the boys, we’ll be giving them a death sentence.”

On June 23, 2018, a team of 12 boys — who were all between the ages of 11 and 16 — had just finished a weekly soccer practice and went to explore a cave with their coach.

But after they’d entered the cave, heavy rain started falling and the rising water trapped them inside.

1 day later their belongings were found. Then, on July 2 a rescue diver discovered them when he ran out of line and popped up out of the water inside the cave.

While most of the world was captivated by this story, my guest today was in the thick of the action. Major Charles Hodges was the US Mission Commander. He and his team from the 353rd Special Operations Group along with a team from the 31st Rescue Squadron, were brought in to advise and assist the Royal Thai government.

He gives us great detail on their initial thought processes, how he and his team assisted the multinational effort and why they were willing to take risks and be bold b/c they had no choice but to get the Wild Boars out of there, accepting that 3-5 of the boys could die in the process.

Maj Hodges, an Air Force Special Tactics Officer, concluded with: “This is what we train for – going into a crisis and solving problems.”